English 9 (Cattrell)

September 5, 2017

Alternative Self-Portrait assignment

1st draft: Friday, 9.8.17

Final draft: Monday, 9.11.17
Length: 1.5-2 pages
Weight: 50 points

I’d like to get to know you a little better as writers and as people. For your first essay assignment, tell me
about yourself, with a twist:

First step

1. Plan a 1.5-2 page essay about yourself, a miniature self-portrait in words. You’re free to provide
any details you think might help me understand you as a person (your place of birth, family
relationships, passions, hobbies, sports, tattoos, summer camp affiliations, artistic tastes).

The twist

2. In this essay, however, please change one detail from your life story, following the guidelines
below.

Make it a detail that has long-term consequences—but consequences that aren’t overwhelmingly
negative or positive.

In other words, the change should be more or less neutral as far as your general happiness, health, and
self-esteem are concerned. (I’m trying to avoid heartbreak and misery as well as “fantasies” about
what life could be like if wild, extravagant wishes were fulfilled.)

3. The resulting essay, then, should be a brief biography—a sketch, about 1.5-2 pages double-
spaced—of the you that took that alternative fork in the road toward your destiny.

For example:

My family moved from the Los Angeles area to Connecticut when I was in middle
school.

For this assignment, I could write a mini autobiography about the “California me” that
would have resulted if we’d never moved.

(over =>)
 4. Even though this essay about your alternative self is partly fictional, it should express something
true to your character.
Following up on the example above:

I might write about how the “California me” started mountain biking in the Sierra Madres
—training, competing, and even doing bike trail maintenance on the weekends.

In real life, I don’t mountain bike, but I often bike to school, I coach Cross Country and
hike, and I’ve spent many summer weeks helping maintain trails in the White Mountains.

So even though my alternative-self biography about the “California me” veers away from
the truth about my activities and the place I grew up, it does stay true to my love for
being outdoors, for doing endurance exercise, and for giving back to the community.

For Friday, please bring a draft of your piece to class (on a laptop). The draft should be at least a page
long, double spaced. (Don’t worry about sending me a draft over email ahead of time.)

Summary and checklist

____ 1.5-2 pages, typed, double spaced

____ Make the essay about you, but . . .

____ change one important detail that . . .

____ stays true to your character (even if it’s not true to life)

____ proofread for grammar, spelling, and punctuation